


The Fourth Time

by DreamFactory



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Cutting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, You've been warned, seriously, this is pure sonic reader comfort trash, trigger warning: cutting and self harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-26 01:10:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16209533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamFactory/pseuds/DreamFactory
Summary: Sonic wasn't blind to the world. He noticed them. He just didn't NOTICE them. Until the fourth time.





	The Fourth Time

The first time he noticed them was in the aftermath of a standard Egghead Tries Too Hard™ attack. When he made sure you were alright, he saw how scarred your arms were before you could get your sleeves back down after everything got messed up in the chaos. He figured you'd been injured somehow in the past, not really surprising considering how much havoc Eggman often made, and how much flying glass tended to be involved when it was in the city.  
  
The second time was more domestic, with 100% less Eggman battle chaos. It was in Amy's kitchen. You clearly didn't expect anyone to come in at that moment, because you looked surprised when you yanked your sleeve back down. You'd been staring at the scars on your arm with a sad look on your face. You'd immediately played it off and said hi like nothing happened. He went along, because it really didn't seem like a big deal at the time.  
  
The third time was when it started to set in for him that maybe they were something that bothered you. He'd been in the park with you and Tails when it was Egghead Tries Too Hard™ o'clock again. He took him down in style, as he always does. It was in the middle of his bragging to Tails about how easy it was ("Yeah, it's a good thing that megarobo went on the fritz when you needed it too. Oh wait, that was because of me." but that was neither here nor there), when he noticed you crying over a fresh cut on your arm. Whoops. Unfortunately, he couldn't really direct ALL the wood shrapnel away from civilians. Set on making it right, he marched on over to you.  
  
"Hey, you alright?" You looked away, trying to contain your tears. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's just another sign that you're still kickin' and that no robocentric crazy Egghead is gonna take _you_ down for good."  
  
"You don't get it! I...I didn't want...not another...not again..." He was trying to make sense of your outburst and babbling.  
  
' _I guess they're just shaken up from the attack. Can't really blame'em_ ,'he thought. At a loss, all he could really offer was, "Uh, hey...it'll be okay."  
  
Tails, who had been approaching and ready to offer support, added,"Yeah! Don't worry about it! It's not like Eggman's ever gonna _win_."

They didn't know what the real problem was. Which was as you wanted. So you did your best to suck it up and pretend. You all got ice cream afterward, which was nice, but the freshly bandaged wound ("Safety first!" as Tails had insisted that you take care of it. You remember Sonic in the background with his shrug-grin-nod, as if to say,"What'aya gonna do. He's right though.")pounded with your heartbeat, and you were ever aware of it. It was a struggle.  
  
Time number four.  
  
Direct.  
  
Amy called him up because she hadn't been able to contact or find you for days on end. She was worried. She said it wasn't like you. He felt like it might be a bit of an exaggeration, but he trusted Amy's judgement enough, and it wouldn't hurt to do a quick check. He was good at quick checks. He started at your place. Made sense.  
  
_a-knock-knock-knock_  
  
"Yo, [y/n]! You in?" He listened for a moment. Nothing.  
  
_knock-knock-knock_  
  
"Heeey! [y/n]!"  
  
Silence. He leaned his ear to the door, juuuust to be sure. He shook his head and was about to leave.  
  
_!_  
  
"Huh?" As a hero, his ears became tuned to certain things. Like people needing help. Like people crying.  
  
"Hey!" He pounded on the door with renewed vigor. "Are you okay? What's going on in there?" His shouts and overzealous knocking were getting him nowhere. Now, some might say he overreacted. He said, if there was someone in trouble who needed help, what's a door?  
  
_KONGK_  
  
Your head snapped up at the sound, broken from your reverie of blood. Confusion as you came back to yourself, then panic at being discovered. Because you were discovered. No time to hide evidence from the fastest thing alive. There he was, looking at you in confusion and horror. But only for a brief second, because he was one of action.  
  
"What are you _doing?!_ " Your knife was gone. It was in his hand, but he looked at it and quickly threw it away behind him, like he couldn't stand to hold it. "What are you _doing?!_ " He repeated. He couldn't understand what he was seeing.  
  
His friend was hurt. They were hurt.  
  
But they did it to themselves?  
  
He took hold of your head, looking you deep in the eyes. He knew what Egghead's mind control looked like, but he saw no sign of anything like that here. He saw panic. He saw shock. But he saw clear, aware eyes. A person in control. Did you really do this to yourself?  
  
"[y/n..." He tried to grapple it.  
  
"Why..."  
  
He wracked his brain.  
  
"What..."  
  
He didn't understand.  
  
"Why did you do this?" He demanded, gesturing to your arms. The state they were in.  
  
You didn't know how to respond. Could you even? Your throat was closed up from emotion before he even showed up. He stared at you, beseeching. Worried. Angry. Confused. He looked... _hurt_. _Hurt_ that you were _hurt_. You didn't want him to look like that. You didn't want him to feel those things. Especially not because of _you_.  
  
It's what finally forced your voice to attempt an...explanation? _Something_. Tell him not to worry about you? Like he wouldn't now. Like he _couldn't_ now. You wanted it to go back to the way it was. How could your friendship proceed now, with... _this_ lodged into it. Oh, god, what if he told Amy and Tails? You had to explain.  
  
A strangled sound as you forced your voice to come back online.  
  
"I...I..." What on earth could you say? He saw your panic and difficulty, and tried to reign in his own emotions. Oh, he _tried_. He had to. To make this easier on you. To let you explain. Even though he didn't know how or what you were going to, or if he could understand it.  
  
He let out a long sigh. Forced himself into a more relaxed position (when did his foot start tapping a hole in your floor?).  
  
"Okay, look...just, take it from the top okay? Why would you think you need to do this?" His gaze wondered back to _this_ , and he realized.  
  
_("Safety first!")_  
  
"Hold that thought." Of course you wouldn't get more than a few seconds to gather your thoughts before he was opening your first aid kit in front of you.  
  
' _Damn speedy bastard_ ,' you couldn't help the fond thought.  
  
"Uh...I'm not really good at this kind of thing," He gestured to the first aid kit, but you didn't miss the double meaning.  
  
"I...I can do it." Wasn't like you didn't have experience. He handed it to you reluctenly. He felt like he should be doing more, but like he said, he didn't really know about that kind of stuff and he didn't want to make it worse.  
  
You focused on taking care of everything, but you didn't miss the grim set of his features or the way he watched over everything. At least he looked calmer. You couldn't imagine what he must be thinking though.  
  
The truth was, he wasn't thinking much at all. He couldn't wrap his head around it anyway, so he was content to wait and calm things while everything was taken care of.  
  
You had finished. Silence. Good, you needed to think.  
  
"Um...this is hard to explain." You felt a distinct no kidding in his gaze, but he didn't say anything.  
  
"So I...um...do you...do you know that...people doing...this kind of thing...is...well, it's probably more common than you think?" His facial expression changed to confounded. He opened his mouth, but you saw that coming and quickly followed up with,"Just let me finish please. I-I need to get through this." He was grim and confused, but his mouth was shut.  
  
"This...lots of people do this for a lot of different reasons. It's...something we do when it gets to be too much, and nothing else helps. Yes, we shouldn't, and yes, it's bad, but...it's how it ends up sometimes for some people. For me...I was trying to stop. I tried so hard and I was doing so well. But then..." You put your hand over where that fateful cut was. You knew it by 'heart. It never shut up after that day.  
  
"That damn **cut**." Finally, the word was out there. "It reminded me, and it wouldn't stop reminding me every damn second. I tried so _hard_ to block it out. But maybe that was the problem to begin with. I cut to stop myself from dissociating. That's why I do it. Not to get too deep on you, but sometimes I don't feel like I'm real. Or alive. And for some reason the only thing that snaps me out of it is..." You had to take a break to swallow and breath. Then you whispered,  
  
"...to see me bleed..."  
  
You lowered your head in shame. You couldn't look at him. There was a long silence. Then,  
  
"You're right. I don't really get it."  
  
You flinched. Oh boy. Here it comes. You braced for a berating.  
  
"But. I know that your hurt. And that your hurting. And I really want it to stop. I hate that you would do this." He took a deep breath. "But. You're not in this alone. You have Amy, Tails, and me. And I may not get it. And they might not get it if you tell them. But we all wanna help you however we can. Because you're our friend. And friends don't like each other hurt, right?"  
  
It was a little toned down from his typical thumps-up-grin-wink, but entirely sincere.  
  
"Lean on us a little, yeah?" A slight shrug. His casual demeanor was coming back. "Promise me." That didn't stop the fierceness in his eyes, or the honesty. "Promise me that if your so bad off that you wanna do this again, you'll confide in at least one of us, alright? I'm sure we can help _somehow_. I'm sure you noticed, but we're pretty awesome people," he was trying to cheer you up with his usual flair, "and that includes you too, ya know?" Which didn't make it any less true.  
  
Or  lessen how truly gobsmacked you were. He didn't _understand_ , but that didn't stop him from being _supportive_. Damn him. He was truly a good friend. They all were and that was going to make you cry.  
  
"H-hey! You don't hafta cry! I-it's okay!"  
  
"I promise!" You blurted, before your sobbing could stop you.  
  
He looked so relieved, yet so awkward, and he tried to cover all of it up with stoic character. Still, one more thing needed to be said. "And we promise you that we'll be there."  
  
And then he awkwardly patted your shoulder, which made you laugh-sob.  
  
"Ha ha, see! It's gonna be okay!"  
  
You nodded. You knew it wouldn't, always. But damn if you weren't glad that your friends actually cared.  
  
"Alright, look, I know I always say this-because it it's true! But I found the best chili dog joint recently, and you've gotta try it!"  
  
If there was one person in the world who  could take someone from a cutting, sobbing, mess, and then have them grinning and agreeing about the awesomeness of a chili dog hardly an hour later, it was flipping Sonic the Hedgehog.  
  
  
  
  
  
That night when you got back home and assured Sonic that you would be fine so he would leave you alone, you realized you were going to have to deal with putting the knife away after it had been left on the floor earlier in your sudden chili dog escapade.  
  
Yet no matter how hard you looked, you couldn't find it.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is pure sonic reader comfort trash. Just something I forced out because I was in a bad place, and did a little thought experiment with how Sonic might react to such a thing. I figure, if it helped me, and if it can help at least one other person (if even just by laughing at how ridiculous it is), then I guess it's worth it, ay? First thing I've ever written, much less in fanfiction, so if you care to leave constructive critisism, please do. I thirst for that writing knowledge. Anyway, have a nice day/night, peace out!


End file.
